Braided-ring networks have many advantages in speed of message propagation and fault protection. A braided-ring network can be used to propagate both synchronous and asynchronous traffic. However, in a typical bi-directional half-duplex braided ring network, as in other bi-directional half-duplex networks, some type of scheduling or arbitration mechanism must be used to prevent signals or messages from different nodes colliding on links or otherwise creating interference with each other.
It is also desirable for the mechanism used to limit delay as well as prevent collisions. In other words, it is desirable for a message to be transmitted as soon as possible once it is ready to be transmitted without having to wait excess time to be transmitted. Typical mechanisms to prevent collisions do not adequately address this time delay concern. Traditionally, asynchronous traffic has used mini-slotting wherein each node waits a fixed timed period based on node priority before transmitting a message even when other nodes are not currently transmitting a message. In serialized topologies such as rings, the disadvantages of mini-slotting schemes are further amplified as the slots need to be widened to account for the serialization/repeat delay. Similarly, requiring the nodes to communicate and coordinate transmission utilizes bandwidth and time which could be used for transmission of messages.